Kiln



E. P. STEVENS July 29 1924;

KILN

Filed May 11. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 35 w a azrm ill IIAIIIIII. II IPatented July 29, 1924.

ENOCI-I P. STEVENS, OF MORGAN PARK, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; MARY ANN STEVENSKILN.

EXECUTRIX OF SAID ENGCH P. STEVENS, DECEASED.

' Application filed. May 11, 1921. Serial No. 468,646.

To all whom it may] 0mm:

Be 1t known that I, ENocH P. STEVENS,

a citizen of the United States,'residing at primarily forburning bricksor other ob jects of'refractory material, but it is adapted for manyother uses.

The object of the invention isto provide a highly efficient heatingapparatus for kilns which will insure continuity of heat of desireddegree until the heat treatment is finished, and which will utilize alarge proportion of the heat of discharged products of combustion forraising the temperature of the combustion supporting medium.- 1

The invention proceeds upon the principle of delivering fuel andcombustion supportin medium into a kiln, preferably at the center and inthe upper portion thereof, and then discharging the waste products ofcombustion from the lower portion thereof;

' the discharge flues for the products of combustion being subdividedinto a plurality of channels which, as they become hot, are

' adapted to be severally interposed as a portion of the conduit throughwhich combustion supporting medium reaches the kiln.

The inventibn consists in the novel arrangement of the elements combined1n accordance with the above-stated principle as well as in certainconstructions incident thereto, as set forth in the subjoineddescription and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, t

In the accompanying drawings, 1n. which -one embodiment of the inventionis diskilnl is a burner 4 adapted to discharge burning fuel mixture,such, for instance, as

crude oil supported by hot air, and 5 represents an apertured floor ofthe kiln through which products of combustion may escape into thesub-floor spaces 6 which communicate with a discharge flue? that issubdivided into two leads, respectively controlled by valves/7 7 andadapted to discharge into the checker chambers 8, 8", discharging,subject to the control of valves 9', 9", into the stack 9. 10 representsa source of combustion supporting medium, such, for instance, as an airshaft which communicates through air trunk 11 and valved ports 12, 12with the respective checker chambers 8, 8 13 represents a flue whichsupplies the burner 4 with combustion supportingmedium, and isadapted toreceive hot air through valved ports 14:, 14 from the respective checkerchambers 8, 8*. I The fuel supply for the burner a preferably consistsof a nozzle 15 to which fluid fuel is supplied through a pipe 16 fromsome suitable source, such, for instance, as'an elevated tank 17.Surrounding thatportion of the pipe 16 which runs with the hot air flue13 is a jacket 18 which, while transmitting sufficient heat to keep thefuel in good fluid state, prevents the fuel from vaporizing in the pipe16 by admitting around the latter a constant flow of air received fromthe pit 19 at atmospheric temperature, and delivered around the nozzle15 as a part of the combustion supporting medium, although not insuflicientproportion tocool the main body of combustion supporting airbelow the point of efliciency.

In operating the kiln equipped as above 7 described, one of the checkerchambers, for instance, chamber 8, is introduced as a means ofcommunication for waste products of combustion from the flue '7 to thestack 9 by opening the valves 7- and 9 and closing the valve 12, whilethe other checker chamber 8 is introduced as a part of the conduit forthe supply of air from shaft 10- to hot air flue 13 for supportingcombustion by closing the valves 7 and 9 and opening the valves 12* and14 When checker chamber 8 has been subjected tothe products ofcombustion until its checker work l1EIS 1C quired approximately thetemperature of the productsof combustion, valves 7" and '9 are thechamber 8.

flexible connectors of valves their action with valve closed and valves12 and 14 are opened and simultaneously valves 7 and 9 are opened andvalves 12 and 14 are closed, so that chamber 8 has become heated, thevalves'are again shifted to again change the connection of the chambers,and this operation continues until the heat treatment in the kiln iscompleted and the combustion of fuel interrupted.

In practice pyrometers will be introduced into the chambers 8, 8*, assuggested at and 20 and connected up with a suitable indicator such, forinstance, as the bell circuit 21 in a manner to indicateto the operatorwhen the shifting of the valves is tobe made.

Any suitable means may be employed for insuring the action of the pairsof valves reciprocally with each otherand with other valves of thesystem with which they must alternate in action. One arrangement foraccomplishing this purpose is suggested schematically in Figure 3,wherein 22 is a main shaft adapted to be'rotated in opposite directionsby a suitable crank, while branch shafts are provided equipped,respectively,

with pulleys 24 and 24 acting in opposite directions upon chains orother flexible con- 'nectors 26, 26 of valves 7 and 14, and

pulleys and 25 acting oppositely upon 7* and 14. Shafts 24 and 25 areconnected through bevel gearing 28 with shaft 22 so that when shaft 22is rotated, rotation will be imparted tobranch shafts 24 and 25 inopposite directions to each other, and each branch shaft will developopposite movements in two valveswhich it controls. Thus. valves 7? and7" will alternately open and close and valves 14 and 14 will likewisealternate in T and with each other.

29 represents a pulley that has a flexible connector 30 havin itsintermediate portion wound around said pulley and its ends connected tothe respective valves 12 and 12 so that as shaft 22 rotates in oppositedirections valves 12 and 12 will be alternately opened and closed, andthis opening and closing will be simultaneous with and reciprocal tovalves in the groups represented by 7, 7", 14 and 14, it being merely amatter 'of'selection of direction of winding of the flexible connector30 to accomplish this purpose.

31 and 32 represent another pair of branch shafts carrying,respectively, pulleys 31 and 32* which are driven in opposite directionsby the-shaft 22, and being connected by flexible connectors 31 32 withthe valves 9 and 9 to insure reciprocal action in said valves and inproper relationship to the action of the valves 12, 12" in the groups7*, 7 and 14, 14. Thus, it is merely necessary for the operator to throwthe crank 23 from one to the other of its two limits of movement eachtime the indicator sounds in order to insure proper operation, of thekiln. Obviously, this operation may be insured by time clock or othertelltale arrangement commonly used for insuring attention of anoperative under similar circumstances.

. lVhile the embodiment of my invention selected for' purposes ofillustration is de signed for handling fuel of such form as can beintroduced through a pipe, it is to be understood that the underlyingfeatures of my'invention are equally applicable to installationsembodying means for handling solid fuels through means of stokers or thelike.

I claim:

1. In a kiln, a hot air flue a pipe for supplying liquid fuel to thekiln passing through said hot air flue, and a cooling jacket surroundingsaid pipe within said hot air fine.

2. In a kiln, a hot air flue, a pipe for supplying liquid fuel to thekiln passing through said hot air flue, and a cooling jacket surroundingsaid pipe within said hot air flue, having its ends opened,respectively, to a fresh air supply and to the kiln.

3. A kiln, comprising a chamber having a center flue extending to aregion near the top of said chamber, said chamber having an aperturedfloor, means extending from said chamber providing a pair of checkeredpassageways communicating with said chamber through said floor, a sourceof air supply, a stack having communication with said checkeredpassageways, and means operable by common control for reversing theconnections of said chambers to said source of air supply and saidstack.

4. A kiln, comprising a chamber having a center flue extending to aregion near the top of said chamber, said chamber having an aperturedfloor, means extending from said chamber providing a pair of checkeredpassageways communicating with said chamber through said floor, and fuelsupply means passing through said flue at a region between saidcheckered passagways.

'5. A kiln, comprising a chamber having a center flue extending to aregion near the top of said chamber, said chamber having an aperturedfloor, means extending from said chamber providing a pair of checkeredpassageways communicating with said chamber through said floor, and fuelsupply means passing through said flue at a region llU between saidcheckered passageways, said fiuel supply means having means providing acooling jacket.

6. A kiln, comprising a cylindrical chamber having an upstanding flueextending to a region near the top thereof, said chamber having a floorprovided with apertures distributed around said floor, said chamberbeing provided with a space therebelow, and means extending from saidchamber providing a pair of parallelcheckered passageways communicatingwith said space.

7. A kiln, comprising a cylindrical chamher having an upstanding flueextending to a region near the top thereof, said chamber having a floorprovided with apertures distributed around said floor, said chamberbeing provided with a space therebelow, means extending from saidchamber providing a pair of parallel checkered passageways communicatingwith said space, and fuel supply means extending from the exterior ofsaid chamber to the interior thereof through said flue, said fuel supplymeans being located between said checkered passageways.

8. A kiln, comprising a cylindrical chamber having an upstanding flueextending to a region near the top thereof, said chamber having a floorprovided with apertures distributed around said floor, said chamberbeing provided with a space therebelow, means extending from said chamberproviding a pair of parallel checkered passageways communicating withsaid space, and fuel supply means extending from the exterior ofsaidchamber to the interior thereof through said flue, said fuel supplymeans being located between said checkered passageways, and beingenclosed within a jacket which communicates with the outside air andwhich encloses said fuel supply means to a point adjacent to the top ofsaid flue. v

9. A kiln, comprising a cylindrical chamber having a center flueextending to aregion near the top of said chamber, said chamber havingan apertured floor, and a pipe located within said flue adapted to leadliquid fuel to a point adjacent to the top of said flue.

10. A kiln, comprising a cylindrical chamber having a center flueextending to a region near the top of said chamber, said chamber havingan apertured floor, and a pipe located within said flue adapted to leadliquid fuel to a point adjacent to the top of said flue, said pipe beingprovided with a cooling jacket extending from a point in communicationwith the outside air to a point adjacent to the top of said flue.

11. A kiln, comprising a chamber having a center flue extending to aregion close to the top thereof and an apertured floor having a spacetherebelow, means extending from said chamber providing a pair ofparallel adjacent checkered passageways, a source of air supply and astack communicating with said passageways at points distant from saidchamber, valves con trolling communication between said cham bers andsaid flue at points adjacent to said chamber, valves for controlling theconnections of said source of air supply and said stack with saidpassageways, and means operable in common for controlling said valves toreverse the direction of flow through said passageways.

12. A kiln, comprising a chamber having a center flue and an aperturedfloor, said floor having a space therebelow, said flue providing aconduit for heated air and fuel, and means extending from said chamberproviding a pair of parallel adjacent checkered passageways, said fluecommunicating with said passageways at a region between saidpassageways.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 23rd day of April, 1921.

ENQCH P. STEVENS.

